The present invention relates to arrays of microlenses having high focusing efficiencies. It also relates to methods for fabricating such arrays.
The invention is applicable to the efficient focusing of laser light into optical fibers, light diffusion, and controlled scattering of coherent or incoherent light for projection and transmissive displays, among other applications.
The following definitions are used herein:
A xe2x80x9cmicrolens arrayxe2x80x9d is an array of microlenses and an associated array of unit cells, with one microlens being associated with each unit cell. The microlenses of the present invention can have any desired configuration and can be formed on, for example, a supporting xe2x80x9cpistonxe2x80x9d of the type disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 60/222,033 which was filed on Jul. 31, 2000 in the names of G. Michael Morris and Tasso R. M. Sales and is entitled xe2x80x9cStructured Screens or Controlled Spreading of Light,xe2x80x9d the content of which in its entirety is incorporated herein by reference. Thus, as used herein, the term xe2x80x9cmicrolensxe2x80x9d means any microstructure which is capable of focusing light.
The xe2x80x9cfill factorxe2x80x9d of a microlens array is the ratio of the sum of the areas within the unit cells occupied by microlenses to the sum of the areas of the unit cells.
The xe2x80x9cfocusing efficiencyxe2x80x9d of a microlens array is the sum of the measured light intensities at the focal points of the microlenses divided by the sum of the light intensities impinging on the unit cells of the array for an array illuminated along its optical axis by a collimated, substantially spatially incoherent light source, e.g., a collimated white light source. As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, this is a xe2x80x9cStrehl-typexe2x80x9d definition of focusing efficiency.
Since concave microlenses will typically have virtual focal points (e.g., a plano-concave microlens in air will have a negative power and thus a virtual focal point for collimated light), an auxiliary optical system needs to be used in such cases to produce real focal points whose intensities can be measured. To at least some extent, the auxiliary optical system will reduce the intensities at the real focal points, and those reductions should be taken into account in determining the intensity values for the virtual focal points.
In the case of anamorphic microlenses, the light intensities at each of the focal points of the microlens are included in the sum of the measured light intensities.
Microlenses are required in many applications, such as light coupling from lasers to fibers, either as single lenses or in array form whereby several beams are focused to several fibers. Other important applications include light diffusion and screens.
Depending on the application, one may require a microlens of accurate profile with controlled focusing properties or, in the case of an array, high quality over most lenses in the array. To focus light efficiently, the lens profile (or sag function) must be fabricated with accuracy typically equal to or better than, for example, xcex/4, where xcex is the wavelength of the illumination source.
In addition, particularly for high-density coupling, diffusion, or screen applications, it is often important that the microlenses utilize the entire surface for focusing. In this way, essentially all incident light can be controlled by the array. When the entire useful surface area is employed for focusing, the array is said to possess a 100% fill factor.
Close packing of microlenses implies a fill factor equal to 100%, which means that the internal boundaries between neighboring microlenses are in close contact. A simple example of close packing is a hexagonal array. Other arrangements, such as square arrays, can also be close packed.
It is typical to find in both the scientific and patent literature arrays of microlenses that have fill factors below 100%. FIG. 1 illustrates such an array where microlenses 12 are regularly placed on the available substrate area 11 with spaces being left between the individual microlenses. One of the unit cells of the array of FIG. 1 is shown by dashed lines 13. The fill factor for this array is only 44%.
There are several existing methods for fabricating isolated microlens units or arrays of microlenses whose edges are well-separated so that their boundaries avoid close contact. Because there is a finite distance between the internal boundaries of neighboring lenses, the fill factor for the array is necessarily less than 1 (or 100%).
The difficulty in obtaining efficient closed-packed lens arrays using prior art fabrication methods is due to the inability of those methods to preserve the boundaries of microlenses accurately, particularly for small and strongly focusing lenses.
Methods using thermal deformation, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,623, are based on volume relaxation and thus cannot control the fusing of material at the internal boundaries between microlenses. With fusion there is distortion that reduces focusing capabilities. Thermal deformation methods are simple to implement but allow limited control of the individual microlens structures.
Other methods, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,263, involve the creation of mechanical molds that define receptacles for curable liquids. The liquid is poured into the receptacles and the natural surface tension creates a bowed surface that serves as the microlenses. The mold, with the various receptacles, defines the array arrangement. Due to the inherent limitation of this method in controlling the shape of the microlens units, its efficiency cannot be optimized for a general application. Other mechanical methods based on the direct ruling of individual microlenses, such as diamond turning, are better suited for the fabrication of individual microlenses rather than arrays.
Methods based on ion diffusion processes that provide gradient-index arrays, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,321, cannot provide a 100% fill factor, with the region between two neighboring microlenses being typically 20% of the microlens repetition spacing. Gradient-index arrays present a serious limitation for large-volume fabrication due to the intrinsically slow diffusion process.
Processes for producing microlens arrays using direct laser writing in a photoresist are known in the art. See commonly-assigned PCT Patent Publication No. WO 99/64929, Gale et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,464,030, and Micro-Optics: Elements, systems and applications, Hans P. Herzig, ed., Taylor and Francis, Bristol, Pa., 1997, pp. 53-152. The photoresist of choice for such processes is a positive photoresist since compared to negative photoresists, positive photoresists are more widely available, have been subject to more intensive research and development work by photoresist manufacturers, and generally have higher resolution. However, as discussed in detail below, prior to the present invention, it has not been possible to produce arrays of positive microlenses having high focusing efficiencies at high fill factors using positive photoresists.
The present invention addresses the difficulties associated with the prior art by providing methods for fabricating microlens arrays having high focusing efficiencies through accurate microlens fabrication at high fill factors. The array can be arranged in any arbitrary way, such as square, hexagonal, or random. In addition, the methods allow the fabrication of microlenses of arbitrary shape as well as variable focusing power for different directions (anamorphic lenses).
In view of the foregoing, the objects of the invention include at least some and preferably all of the following:
(1) the provision of fabrication methods for producing arrays of convex microlenses having high focusing efficiencies;
(2) the provision of arrays of convex and/or concave microlenses with greater than 75% focusing efficiency, preferably greater than 85% focusing efficiency, and most preferably greater than 95% focusing efficiency;
(3) the provision of methods for accurately fabricating arrays of convex microlenses at high fill factors; and/or
(4) the provision of arrays of accurately fabricated convex and/or concave microlenses with fill factors greater than 90%, preferably greater than 95%, and most preferably approximately 100% so that the entire useful area of a substrate can be employed for focusing or, more generally, scattering of an illuminating beam.
In connection with these objects, it is also an object of the invention to allow the microlenses of the array to have arbitrary shapes (sag functions) that can vary randomly within the array.
It is a further object of the invention to provide improved methods for using positive photoresists to produce arrays of convex microlenses at high fill factors.
To achieve the foregoing and other objects, the invention provides a fabrication method for producing an array of convex microlenses wherein direct laser writing is used to produce an initial master (initial mold) in a positive photoresist wherein the surface configuration of the initial master is the negative (complement) of the desired array of convex microlenses. That is, the initial master has a concave, instead of a convex, surface configuration. In this way, as discussed in detail below, the problems caused by the finite size of a laser beam and the convolution of such a beam with the desired profile(s) of convex microlenses are overcome. By overcoming these problems, convex microlens arrays having high focusing efficiencies are achieved.
In general, a high focusing efficiency for an array of microlenses depends on two factors: (1) a high fill factor, and (2) accurate reproduction of the desired lens profiles. Both factors are necessary and neither factor alone is sufficient.
Thus, a high fill factor can be achieved by a process that alters all parts of a resist film, but if the alterations do not correspond to the desired lens profiles, the focusing efficiency of the array will still suffer since the parts of the resist film that have the inaccurate profiles will not focus incident light properly. On the other hand, accurate reproduction of a desired lens profile with the individual microlenses spaced far apart also results in low focusing efficiency, in this case as a result of light passing through the spaces between microlenses.
In accordance with the invention, it has been found that both factors can be addressed by using the concave form to initially write convex lenses in a positive photoresist. In this way, high focusing efficiency through the accurate production of desired lens profiles at a high fill factor is achieved.
In accordance with certain preferred embodiments, the invention is practiced by using a substrate typically made of glass to support a first medium to generate an initial master (initial mold), which is later used to accurately replicate the desired microlens array in a cost-effective fashion. More particularly, a photosensitive positive resist film is deposited on the substrate to an appropriate thickness consistent with the desired thickness for the final microlens array. The positive resist is preferably of the low-contrast kind such that, when exposed to light, a smoothly varying surface-relief profile can be produced.
After being deposited on the substrate, the positive resist is exposed to a laser beam having a well-characterized profile. With a pre-defined sampling rate, the area of the resist film of interest is exposed to the laser beam. By varying the intensity of the beam, the complement of the shape of each microlens in the array is encoded in the resist. In particular, the laser exposure produces a latent image in the photosensitive film by modifying its physical and chemical properties.
Next, the film is developed to produce a surface-relief structure. For a resist film of the positive kind, development removes the exposed area leaving the unexposed regions. The above combinations of surface-relief structure and photoresist type for the initial master are critical aspects of the invention since only through the indicated combinations can high focusing efficiencies be achieved through high fill factors and minimized convolution effects of a finite laser beam.
It has been generally believed in the art that the convolution effects of a finite laser beam would be essentially the same irrespective of whether the laser beam exposure created a convex or concave surface-relief structure. In accordance with the invention, it has been found that this belief is not true and in fact by fabricating the initial master for a convex microlens array as a concave surface-relief structure, high fill factors (e.g., fill factors equal to or essentially equal to 100%) and high focusing efficiencies (e.g., focusing efficiencies at least above 75%) are achieved. A detailed discussion of how this combination addresses the convolution problem is presented below.
To create a mold usable in high volume replication, intermediary replication steps are generally necessary because resist films are usually unsuitable for large-volume replication. For example, the concave surface-relief structure can be used to prepare an intermediate master (intermediate mold), which is of convex form. The intermediate master can then be replicated once more to provide a final master (final mold), now in concave form. Large-volume replication is then possible with the final concave master so that the final array has a convex form and provides a high fill factor and a high focusing efficiency.
The array need not be limited to regularly periodic arrangements, such as square or hexagonal arrays, but may assume any general arbitrary form, as dictated by the requirements of the design. Furthermore, the lens shape need not be the same and can, in fact, vary for every microlens in the array. For example, the techniques of the present invention can be used to produce the configurations and distributions of microstructures set forth in the above-referenced, commonly assigned U.S. Patent Application entitled xe2x80x9cStructured Screens for Controlled Spreading of Light.xe2x80x9d
A fact of importance in the present invention is that the tops of the concavities of the concave surface-relief structure formed in the positive resist film are preferably aligned or vary slowly for any neighboring elements. If this guideline is not satisfied, accurate profiles may only be produced over a portion of the array, reducing both the fill factor and the focusing efficiency of the array.